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No I’ve Got Something in My Eye

Allen Ruppersberg and Landfall Press, Inc.

No I’ve Got Something in My Eye

1988

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No I’ve Got Something in My Eye

1988

Physical Qualities Color lithograph, Sheet: 560 x 351 mm. (22 1/16 x 13 13/16 in.) Image: 541 x 335 mm. (21 5/16 x 13 3/16 in.)
Portfolio/Series From the portfolio "Preview Suite"
Credit Line Women's Committee Acquisitions Endowment for Contemporary Prints and Photographs
Object Number 2011.71.9
Allen Ruppersberg is among a group of influential West Coast artists (including Ed Ruscha whose work is on view nearby) who by the late 1960s were redefining the forms that art might take. In 1969, Ruppersberg conceived an installation and performance piece called Al’s Café in which the artist himself manned the restaurant counter and served up plates of inedible, but sculpturally arranged food and objects along with beer and conversation. Since then, the artist has spent most of his career exploring language and the formats in which it appears, notably books and posters. Preview Suite combines text from miscellaneous sources with statements written by Ruppersberg. These are presented on the distinctive, colorful designs of Los Angeles’s Colby Poster Printing Company, more typically used for street advertisements. Phrases like “What should I do?” suggest an everyday existentialism that is reflected in Ruppersberg’s observation that “Art should be familiar and enigmatic, just as human beings themselves.” The vibrant backgrounds are also wittily evocative of the powerful compositions of mid-20th century abstract painter Mark Rothko.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2011; Greene Naftali Gallery, NY
Kristen Hileman, BMA, Contemporary Wing rotation, 1 May - 20 November 2013.

Inscribed: VERSO lower left, in graphite: "AR.88.975"

Markings: VERSO lower left, LANDFALL PRESS stamp

Artist

Allen Ruppersberg

American, born 1944

American, born 1944
Meet Allen Ruppersberg

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Let's be quite clear. - Bertrand is going to sneak in and out of the groups at the stock exchange and polish up the tarred bitumen shares, he'll make them sparkle, he'll say they're being snapped up, snatched up all round, that they're rising like balloons... As for you, Baron, you have a certain 'savoir faire', go and buy some for 20%, 30%, even 100% more. I've got the whole lot in my wallet, they won't be able to deliver any, we'll sell them for what we like and providence will do the rest. - (Bertrand) Forward march against the dupes, let's cash in... fly... etc.
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The other day, I pulled off another smart trick... I had set up a firm with a capital of ten million francs to exploit top boots in cardboard ... I had placed only eight shares worth a petty 1200 francs... I called together my eight shareholders and held forth in something like the following manner: "Ah! Good-day ye strolling gentlemen, how handsome you are, how fine you seem!" I promised them more cheese than bread, I gave them a 50% dividend, I warmed them up a bit and let them simmer... The following day they couldn't get hold of my shares fast enough, I placed all of them and at the next meeting I said: "The last time I did the books I made a mistake. I forgot to take into account the price of the cardboard and its fabrication. You must return the dividend I gave you, I'm going to hold it back... I put down nothing and kept back the r
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Robert Macaire, barrister. - My dear Bertrand, give me a hundred crowns and I'll get you acquitted right away. - I've no money. - All right, give me a hundred francs. - I haven't got a penny. - You don't even have ten francs? - Not a farthing. - Then give me your boots, and I'll plead extenuating circumstances.
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Allen Ruppersberg and Landfall Press, Inc.
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